Book Review

After reading 36% of this book, I've made the decision to put it down and move on. This is not a decision made without careful consideration. It would have been an easy decision if there was something particularly objectionable or "wrong" with the book. Truthfully, I just couldn't engage no matter how many times I put it down and picked it back up. I did feel there were a few instances where the ...

Though Free Men is the story of a slave, an orphan, and Creek Indian, it is not so much a story about being a slave, orphan, or Indian. At its essence, it's really a very poignant story of relationships, injustice, loyalty, and how we perceive ourselves.
It's 1788 and the unlikely trio of Bob (escaped slave), Cat (a misunderstood, fragile, and traumatized white man), and Istillicha (a Creek ...

Thanks to Atria/Emily Bestler Books for providing me with a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Hidden Bodies, by Caroline Kepnes, is the sequal to You. Though I hadn't read You, I didn't have any trouble getting pulled into this series about a really nice guy who is down on his luck in the love department rare book dealer/murderer turned Hollywood writer/murderer. After all, ...

The Girl from the Train provides something a bit different than many of the WWII novels I've read in the recent past. In terms of geography, the settings are primarily Poland and South Africa. While both lands are richly described, I felt I learned a lot about the terrain and culture of South Africa during the period. I appreciated the details that made it very obvious that the author had ...

It's been quite a while since I've read a book offered such an original idea and fresh perspective. What Was Mine had me up and reading at 4am. As a parent, reading a book about a baby's kidnapping is always unsettling. Most of us have experienced at least one brief moment of terror when our eyes weren't quick enough in their search for our children. Most of us are lucky enough to have feeling ...

Thanks to Doubleday Books via NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This book was disturbing and sickening on many levels but it did keep me turning the pages... It wasn't just the subject of human sex trafficking that I found myself objecting to. That was, of course, difficult to read but it was more than that. I really disliked all of the ...

Thanks to St. Martin's Press via NetGalley for providing me with a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Beginning at a their horse farm in Virginia, then alternating between 1970's and 1990's Paris and England, I'll See You in Paris is the story of a mother and daughter reconciling the past with their present. Though it is narrated in alternating time periods, and there are ...

Thanks to Random House Publishing Group Ballantine via NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
In The Swans of Fifth Avenue, Melanie Benjamin gives us a delicious glimpse into the lives of the "original " Housewives of NYC. In the 1950's, these ladies - Babe Paley, Slim Keith, Gloria Guinness, CZ Guest, Pamela Churchill - and the company they ...

Thanks to Kensington Books via NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The murder of law student Becca Eckersley is brutal. Clearly a crime of passion committed by someone who either loved or hated her very much. Beautiful and smart, she was not lacking for male attention. But finding out who is responsible will require some creative and ...

Thanks to Bookouture via NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Though I hadn't read the first to novels in this series, I had great hopes for this book based on the description and the positive reviews. Unfortunately, it didn't live up to my expectations. While the basic plot was intriguing - plotting the parents of two kidnapped girls against ...